Manic Street Preachers live review – Birmingham Genting Arena

More contentment than confrontation as former firebrands embrace middle age.

Alienation alchemised into arena-rocking celebration. Lost causes reborn as communal singalongs. The mood in Birmingham for this show marking the 20th anniversary of the album that elevated Manic Street Preachers to mainstream stardom, Everything Must Go, is very different from how it was on their previous revival tour, which revisited the band’s psychic torture manual The Holy Bible.